Using VNC® Viewer for Android

When connected to a computer using VNC Viewer, your finger moves the mouse cursor rather than pans the screen, as in a web browser. This means you can tap anywhere to perform an operation at the point the cursor is positioned; you don't have to tap precisely. Note the cursor is offset from under your finger so you can always see it.

» Navigate and zoom

» Perform mouse operations using gestures

» Perform operations in mouse button mode

» Enter text

» Enter international characters

» Perform keyboard operations (ie. Ctrl-Alt-Del)

» Transfer text between computer and device

» Tweak performance

» View connection information

» Disconnect

Move a finger up and down or from side to side to move the mouse cursor in the direction you want to pan. The desktop automatically scrolls as the cursor nears an edge.

Zooming the desktop

If your device supports multi-finger gestures, pinch two fingers apart to zoom in and see more detail. Pinch two fingers together to zoom out and see more desktop. Note you cannot double-tap to zoom fully out as you may be able to in a web browser.

If your device does not support multi-finger gestures, an alternative mechanism may be presented, for example zoom in and zoom out buttons.

Using gestures

A gesture is a finger movement (one or more) that emulates a mouse operation in a touchscreen environment. As an alternative, you can use mouse button mode.

Note: Not all devices support multi-finger gestures.

To Do this
Navigate the desktop Move one finger in the direction you want to pan. More...
Zoom in Pinch two fingers apart. More...
Zoom out Pinch two fingers together. More...
Move the mouse cursor Place one finger on the screen and drag. More...
Click the left mouse button Tap the screen. More...
Double-click the left mouse button Double-tap the screen. More...
Click the right mouse button Tap two fingers on the screen. More...
Click the middle mouse button Tap three fingers on the screen.
Scroll the mouse wheel Place two fingers on the screen and slowly drag up or down. More...
Drag an object or select text Double-tap the screen, hold the second tap, and drag. More...

Place a finger on the screen and drag to move the mouse cursor. The cursor is offset from under your finger so you can always see it. Note all operations are performed where the cursor is positioned, not your finger.

Tap anywhere on the screen to click the left mouse button once. Depending on the position of the cursor, an operation might be performed, such as pressing a dialog button or giving an application focus.

Double-tap anywhere on the screen to click the left mouse button twice. Depending on the position of the cursor, an operation might be performed, such as starting an application or selecting a line or word of text.

Tap two fingers anywhere on the screen simultaneously to click the right mouse button. Depending on the position of the cursor, a shortcut menu might open.

Place two fingers on the screen in an application window and move both up or down to scroll it. You may need to experiment with the distance between fingers to find the spacing that gives you the best result.

Double-tap anywhere on the screen, hold the second tap, and move your finger to drag a desktop object such as a dialog or icon, or select a body of text. Note that the cursor must be appropriately positioned for this operation to succeed, for example on the title bar of a dialog.

Using mouse button mode

In mouse button mode, virtual mouse buttons and an imaginary scroll wheel are superimposed on your view of the desktop (see the explanation in the picture below). This gives you even more precise control over operations.

To enter mouse button mode, press the Menu button and touch Mouse Buttons. To quit, perform this operation again, or press the Back button. Note you can move the mouse cursor around the desktop using your finger in the normal way.

Entering text

To enter text in a suitable application or field, you can either use:

  • The on-screen virtual keyboard.
  • The device keyboard, if it has one.

Press the Menu button and touch Keyboard to enter text entry mode. Note that if a device keyboard is detected, the virtual keyboard is not displayed.

You can enter any available character. Text you type is displayed in the preview bar. To obscure text (perhaps a password), touch to the right of the text preview. To quit, touch .

Entering international characters

You can enter international characters providing:

  • They are not from pictographic scripts (such as Chinese, Japanese, or Korean).
  • The computer you want to control is running VNC Enterprise Edition or VNC Personal Edition 4.5 or later.
  • The operating system of the computer supports the language in which you want to type. Under Mac OS X, it must also be the currently-selected language.

To access international characters, add the appropriate keyboard(s) to your device before you connect.

Performing keyboard operations

Computer keyboards have numerous non-character keys that, when pressed, and sometimes in combination, perform useful operations. For example, holding down the Control and Alt keys and pressing Delete enables you to reboot a Windows computer.

VNC Viewer has a scrolling key bar containing buttons representing the following keys:

  • Function keys (F1 through F12).
  • Modifier keys (Shift, Control, Alt, and Windows (PC keyboard)/Command (Mac keyboard)).
  • Navigation keys (Cursor keys, Page Up, Page Down, Home, End).
  • Editing keys (Delete, Backspace, Insert, Tab).
  • Miscellaneous keys such as Escape and Enter.

Note that some other keys (such as the Space bar) can be accessed from a keyboard. Other keys (such as Print Screen and Num Lock) are not available.

To open the scrolling key bar, press the Menu button and touch either Mouse Buttons or Keyboard. To see more buttons, scroll the bar to the left.

Note that:

  • The Windows and Command keys share the same button.
  • The Enter key is represented by the button.
  • You can touch a modifier button (Shift, Control, Alt, Windows/Command) once to emulate holding that key down for the next key press only. The button light turns on and the appropriate symbol is highlighted to the left of the text preview.

    For example, you might touch the button (to emulate holding down the Control key) and then on the virtual keyboard to copy the current selection to the computer's Clipboard. The button automatically releases once the operation has been performed.

Transfering text

For connections to computers running VNC Enterprise Edition or VNC Personal Edition, you can copy text from your computer and paste it to a suitable application on your device, such as Email or Calendar, and vice versa. Note this is not possible for connections to computers running Apple Remote Desktop/Remote Management or other VNC-compatible Server technology.

To transfer text from computer to device, use VNC Viewer to select and copy text in the expected way for the computer, for example by emulating the Control-C key combination. Press the Home button to switch out from VNC Viewer (you will not be disconnected), open the appropriate application, and paste text in the expected way for the device.

To transfer text from device to computer, open an appropriate application, and select and copy text in the expected way for the device. Close the application, open VNC Viewer, connect to a computer, and paste text in the expected way for its operating system, for example by emulating the Control-V key combination.

Tweaking performance

For connections to computers running VNC Enterprise Edition or VNC Personal Edition, you can trade picture quality for speed and vice versa while the connection is in progress. Note this is not possible for connections to computers running Apple Remote Desktop/Remote Management or other VNC-compatible Server technology.

To do this, press the Menu button, touch Info and then the Picture Quality dropdown. Choose Low to make the connection faster but see potentially less detail, or High to have full color at a potential cost in speed.

If you retain the default Automatic option, VNC Viewer optimizes performance automatically according to the speed of your network.

Viewing connection information

Press the Menu button and touch Info to bring up information about the current connection. This may be useful if you contact Support.

Note that only connections to computers running VNC Enterprise Edition or VNC Personal Edition are encrypted end-to-end (though authentication credentials are always encrypted). Upgrade your computer to this technology if security is important to you.

Closing the connection

Press the Menu button and touch Disconnect to close the connection.

Note you are not disconnected if you press the Home button to switch out from VNC Viewer.